Absolutely essential health and safety toolkit

The Absolutely Essential Health and Safety toolkit provides useful checklists for known issues on small manufacturing sites. It will help you manage or avoid these issues to ensure the health and safety of everyone on and around your work site, including workers, clients and members of the public.

While this guidance has not been updated to reflect current work health and safety legislation (the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 and regulations), it may still contain relevant information and practices to keep workers and others healthy and safe.

Please read this guidance in conjunction with all relevant industry standards that apply to you as a PCBU. This guidance will be progressively reviewed and either updated, replaced with other guidance, or revoked.

General management

Managing a small manufacturing site

The checklists below cover some things to consider when managing a small manufacturing site. These are relevant under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSW Act), which came into force on 4 April 2016 and impose duties on the ‘PCBU’.

What is a PCBU?

The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) defines ‘PCBU’. It is essentially a person conducting a business or undertaking, whether alone or with others and whether for profit or gain or not. The PCBU is in the best position to control risks to work health and safety. This is why the PCBU will have the primary duty to ensure health and safety as of 4 April 2016.

Despite its name, a PCBU can be a business entity, such as a company, as well as an individual person. An individual person will generally be a PCBU if they are a sole trader or a self-employed person.

Examples of a PCBU include:

a manufacturing business

an import business

an owner-driver of their own courier business

a self-employed person operating their own business

a partnership

a building company, whether a principal contractors or a sub-contractors

a not-for-profit organisation that employs admin staff.

PCBUs have a number of duties under the Health and Safety at Work Act. PCBUs with overlapping duties must work together to achieve health and safety at work.

Keep this in mind when reading the checklists. Many of the things covered in this booklet will help PCBUs to meet their duties under the Act.

Do you make sure workers:

are trained, competent and fit to do the job safely and without putting their own or others’ health and safety at risk?

are properly supervised and given clear instructions?

have access to washing and toilet facilities?

have the right tools, equipment, plant and protective clothing?

are involved in discussions about health and safety issues?

are given opportunities to participate in improving health and safety?

When to notify WorkSafe

In an emergency: call the emergency services by dialling 111.

A PCBU must notify WorkSafe as soon as possible if any of the following ‘notifable events’ occur:

Some types of work also require you to notify WorkSafe. These include where a worker could fall 5 m or more, a substance escaping, spilling, or leaking, explosion or fire.

Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) you must notify us when related events occur.

Use our Notify WorkSafe tool to help you with understanding which events are notifiable, what you need to do and when, and how to notify us.

Don’t disturb the scene

You must not interfere with an accident scene until authorised by a health and safety inspector. Exceptions include certain situations, such as when people or property are at risk. If you require scene clearance or other immediate assistance from a health and safety inspector, call WorkSafe on 0800 030 040.

Electrical safety

Are tools and equipment checked by users, visually examined on site and regularly inspected by a competent person?

Are cables and leads protected from damage?

Are RCD’s regularly tested?

Do you ensure only appropriately licensed or registered electricians carry out electrical work?

Do you get electrical equipment that is used in ‘hostile environments’ regularly tested by a competent person?(A hostile environment is one where electrical equipment is exposed to operating conditions that are likely to result in damage to the equipment or a reduction in its expected lifespan).

Critical health risks

Noise

Do you have a noisy working environment (e.g. is it difficult to hold a conversation with a person one metre away from you)?

Have you identified the source of the noise?

Can you control the noise at source using engineering, process or isolation controls?

Are hearing protectors required?

Do you have systems in place for workers to be trained and educated in the use and, cleaning and maintenance of hearing protectors?

Hazardous substances

Have you identified all harmful substances and materials, such as asbestos, lead, solvents, paints, heavy metals and silica dust (eg from silica board, glass making etc)?

Is protective clothing and respiratory equipment provided?

Do you need a location test certificate and if so is it current?

If required does your site need a person to hold a current approved handler certificate?

Have you identified and put into place precautions to prevent or control exposure to hazardous substances, by:

doing the work in a different way,to remove the risk entirely?

using a less hazardous material?

using tools fitted with dust extraction?

installing warning signs to show where work involving hazardous substances is taking place?

Have workers had information and training so they know what the risks are from the hazardous substances used and produced on site, and what they need to do to avoid those risks? For example holding an approved handler certificate.

Have you arranged health surveillance for employees exposed to hazardous substances (eg lead, silica, solvents, and sensitisers such as epoxy resins, isocyanates)?